Guarded, Part Two
"Guarded, Part Two" was the twelfth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine comic book series. Synopsis The owner of the TinCan social network, Theo Daniels, was in a car with two slayer bodyguard (Buffy and Kennedy) who he had hired from DeepScan. He showed them messages two demons sent each other on his network about assassinating Theo. He believed Wolfram & Hart were behind it. Buffy mentioned how the Senior Partners had escaped the Earth dimension and after the End of Magic it would not be possible for them to return. Theo however revealed that the TinCan network itself was operated from several hell dimensions. Theo further explained that his network did not rely on magic, but on demon technology. The connection had already been established when the Seed was broken, which was why it was left unaffected. If the connection would be severed now, there would no way to reconnect. Theo explained that the only way to sever the connection would be to destroy the data centre running the website, which would result in the deletion of user data for millions of people. Moreover, advertisers would lose billions and so would investors. He lamented that TinCan was his life, but that he thought it was the right thing to do anyway, which was why he hired DeepScan. Kennedy complained that DeepScan could not involve itself in corporate terrorism, but she would be willing to keep it off the books. While scouting out the data centre, Buffy recognised that a Teuth demon had infiltrated the building and killed a security guard. She said she would have to get help and visited Eldre Koh to ask him to join her. He initially declined, but she called on the debt that he owed her. After she returned with Eldre Koh, Kennedy expressed her doubts if severing the connection was the right thing to do. She figured that Willow might be able to restore her magic using the connection. Buffy convinced her to go through with it. They split up. At the front door Kennedy and Eldre Koh provided distraction by fighting off many of the Teuth demon's tentacles, while Buffy and Theo snuck into the server room. However, the Teuth demon had spotted them using CCTV and some of its tentacles also protected the server room. It surprised Buffy and Theo, grabbing them. Kennedy and Eldre hacked their way through the demon and tried to find the root of the tentacles which held Buffy and Theo. Through an audio connection one of the Senior Partners commented during the fight that they would not win. However, Kennedy killed the Teuth Demon by throwing a handgrenade at the center of it. At the server room Theo had second thoughts, he felt sad about having to destroy something he though would better the world, especially because he knew that nobody would understand why it would be for the best. Buffy, of course, could relate to this. Just when Theo was about to pull the plug, Eldre Koh stopped him and put one of his blades to Theo's throat. He spoke to Wolfram & Hart, asking them to identify the demon which had imprisoned him, in return he would kill Theo and keep Tin Can safe. Buffy protested that he was breaking the code, but Eldre Koh insisted that honor was more important than the code and he could not have that without having vengeance. Continuity The story was set after "Apart (of Me)", ''but before "Billy the Vampire Slayer". *Buffy specifically mentioned the Senior Partner's escape from the Earth dimension as seen in ''Spike; this was one of the few references to the continuity established by IDW Publishing. *When told of Wolfram & Hart, Buffy expressed an awareness of Angel and Spike risking their lives to keep them out of their realm. Appearances Individuals *Buffy Summers *Kennedy *Theo Daniels *Eldre Koh *Senior Partners *Golth *Unidentified online demon *Angel *Spike *Twilight (only mentioned) *Fredo *Taramind *The Destroyer *Savit Mukherjee (only mentioned) *Dan Thomsen (only mentioned) *Lillian Parker (only mentioned) *Willow Rosenberg Organizations and Titles *Deepscan *TinCan *Wolfram & Hart Species *Slayer *Human *Nitobe *Teuth Demon *Unidentified Demons *Vampy Cats *Thricewise Events *End of Magic Locations *San Francisco Weapons and Objects *Gun *Sword *Grenade *Ax *Seed of Wonder (only mentioned) Body Count *A security guard, killed by a Teuth demon. *Teuth Demon, killed by Buffy, Kennedy and Eldre Koh. Behind the Scenes Trivia *The pictures of Theo Daniel's friends on his TinCan profile include pictures of Joss Whedon (third from the top), Scott Allie (fourth from the top), and Georges Jeanty (sixth picture from the top, the man on the right). Collections *''Guarded'' Pop Culture References *Buffy told Kennedy that Spike had boldly gone where no vampire had gone before, this was a play on a famous line from Star Trek. Quotes Gallery Previews buffys9no12p1.jpg|Preview page 1 buffys9no12p2.jpg|Preview page 2 buffys9no12p3.jpg|Preview page 3 nl:Guarded, Deel Twee Category:Buffy comics Category:Season Nine